In My Garden - Max March 2020

In my food garden ... at Rose Bay, Hobart I took these ten photos today (19 March 2020).

For Christmas someone gave me Tomatillo seeds 'to try them out and see what would happen'.  Without looking up any details, in went the seeds, and Photo 1 shows the result so far.  Hhmm, nothing to do with tomatoes, I think.  The actual edible fruit is inside the 'lampoon', and makes me think that this plant might be related to the Cape Gooseberry, which I also have in my garden (photo  2).

We have just harvested a bowl of Cape Gooseberries.  When they are ripe, the 'lampoons' have a papery feel, and inside are orange little fruits the size of a tiny tomato, but that is where the semblance with tomatoes ends.  The taste is sour + sweet, nice.  We use them in stir fries and salads, but we have also made jam with them in the past.  They are perennial, but they sow themselves out in your garden, so no need to do anything to have them again next season (except pull out new plants that are surplus to requirements). 

Photo 3 shows my bush beans in the foreground with my purple beans in the background. The bush beans I have had for years. Every season I let some beans dry and then I use them next season as seed.

These bush beans are easy to grow and produce a great crop. I put some seeds in our Seedbox in spring.  

The purple beans in the background I got from Ross last season. They are great too, but much later. 

This year I planted both bean varieties at the same time. The bush beans are nearly done, while we may begin to pick the purple beans in a few weeks time. The two bean varieties are a good combo in terms of timing.

Someone gave me a Trombetta squash/zucchini, whatever you want to call it.  I have seen these in Italy, a metre long dangling from high frames, but I was told to pick them small so they are still tasty.  Slightly nutty taste.  Nice alternative to zucchini.

On our balcony are my broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage seedlings growing up nicely in their trays until I have time and there is place in the garden for them to be planted out. That will have to be before mid April.  No hurry!

I grow Butternut pumpkins every season, because they have a great taste and the plants don't become so enormous, which is and advantage in our not-so-large garden. This year's crop will be fine, but not as plentiful as last year. 

What crop is this then?  We have a number of vegetables in our garden that take care of themselves.  They come back every year wherever they choose to sow themselves out and we don't have to do anything.  This is one of them: Miners Lettuce. Will be great in salads, stir fries etc. mid winter, early spring.

Slight problem in the photo above.  We have two varieties of potato in our garden this season: Pink Eyes and King Edward.  We started digging the Pink Eyes up in early December, and they are now finished. Now it is the turn for the King Edwards, but, after the foliage died off in January, they are now beginning to re-sprout, in spite of the fact that I put plenty of soil and mulch on top.  That re-sprouting makes the potatoes go 'glassy' if you don't pull the new growth off, and affects the taste.  Of course I could have dug them all up, but then you have to store them all in cool dry conditions, and even then they begin to sprout as well, eventually.  I don't think there is a perfect way of storing potatoes. Come August they begin to sprout, no matter what you do. Let me know if you disagree!

Here are my two compost bays. I have just finished the left one, and have just started the right one.  The compost in the left bay will be ready for use in spring, when I need it.  Normally I have carpet over both  heaps, but today they promised rain, so I took them off.

Not yet in my garden, but on my list of things to do is planting this garlic.  Every year around January/February our local IGA has nice looking large locally-grown not-sprayed garlics.  I buy one and plant out the individual clovelets (is that the word?) in March/April.  In most years that gives a good result.

Please contact Max at foodgardengroup@gmail.com if you would be happy to take ten photos in your food garden and say something about them.